Sunday, September 11, 2016

Beth made Chicken Divan last night and I loved it! I had never heard of it before even though it seems to be fairly wide spread and well acclaimed. As a lover of curry it really hit the spot, but I love that she was inspired to do it from green beans from her grandparents garden. She told me that there are many variations out there but she combines elements to taste, therefore several ingredients listed don't have specific amounts.

Ingredients

3 Chicken cooked breasts (shredded or cubed)

A couple handfuls green beans, steamed

Cooked Rice (for serving)

For the topping:

3 TBS melted butter

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 to 2 cups Panko bread crumbs

Parmesan cheese

For the sauce:

2 cans "Cream of" condensed soup

1 cup mayonaisse

1 cup sour cream

1 cup shredded white cheddar

1 cup white wine

3 Tbs lemon juice

3 to 4 TBS curry

salt and pepper (to taste)

Directions

1. Cook the chicken. Shred or cube it.

2. Steam the beans.

* preheat oven to 350 degrees *

3. In a skilled melt the butter.

4. Saute the minced garlic in the butter.

5. Add the Panko, stir to combine, and toast until golden brown.

6. Remove from the heat and add Parmesan cheese to taste. Set aside.

7. Start the rice.

8. Prepare the sauce from the ingredients above.

9. Combine the meat and the veggies on a bowl with the sauce and mix well.

Sunday, August 14, 2016

I thought I had this recipe on the blog already but when I went to look for it in a "cooking with a microwave" search for our eldest, who is leaving for college, it wasn't there. So here it is now!From Hormel.Ingredients:1 (16 ounce) canhormel chili 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese1 (16 ounce) packageshredded mild cheddar cheese or 1 (16 ounce) package sharp cheddar cheeseTortilla chips or Frito Scoops, to serve

Friday, April 8, 2016

On a recent maple syrup Saturday I planned a vegetarian Indian feast. There were three recipes I made so it was quite a bit of a mash up. I absolutely failed at one recipe so I turned it into a soup, or maybe it was more of a mash, either way it really tasted wonderful!

Unfortunately, you can't see that absolutely amazing spiralized carrots with Tandoori chickpeas from Inspiralized. I switched the recipe up a bit by serving it all cold. It was the first dish I made that day so it rested in the fridge for quite some time. I really liked the Tahini sauce as well. Please click the Inspiralized link to follow the recipe. I highly recommend it.

Thanks to dear Abbeth who made my paneer, I gladly made this Mattar Paneer Kurma from Monsoon spice. It is in the pot to the right and is far tastier than it looked in my picture. The funniest thing is I am only now realizing that I forgot to add the peas. DUH!

And then there was the mess up, I mean the mash up. I don't know if I can blame operator error, dyslexia, or a confusing recipe. The way the ingredients were broken down at the beginning, didn't seem to match the directions and I wanted to rewrite it but I don't have the time right now. It was a Monsoon Spice recipe for Vegan Beetroot Kofta Curry. I will revisit this recipe, I promise, but it will be done with care and maybe another set of eyes without other dishes being spun around.

With that said I did find another beetroot Kofta Curry recipe that I will try first. It is from Cook with Manali and I would like to compare the two.

It's maple syrup season so you better make one of these yummy breakfast treats! This FABULOUS breakfast recipe feeds 4 to 6 people, so is
perfect for a family of 5. If you have a large amount to feed, make 2! It's easy and takes little prep time. If you need to make 2, don't
double the recipe, just make two different babies. I bake mine into a
deep casserole pan or a 9x12 baking pan.

Sunday, March 27, 2016

It's nothing much but here are some pictures of our Easter dinner. Something about Easter makes me want to make it colorful. Maybe it is inspired by all the hues of the plastic Easter eggs and yummy jellybeans but I always breakout Mima's purple china plates and choose colorful foods to eat.

As an appetizer I spread Endive leaves with Boursin and topped witha locally made salsa.

Mashed purple potatoes and a Cheesy Cauliflower casserole. (From Giverecipe.com but see below). I made the cauliflower extra cheesy but I did use an orange Cauliflower.

Lamb with mint jelly and a nice wine.

Cheese Cauliflower Casserole

Serves: 6

Ingredients

5 cups small cauliflower florets

½ lemon to avoid the bad smell when cooking cauliflower

1 and ¼ cups milk

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 egg

2 tablespoons flour

1 and ½ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ground black pepper

1 cup parmesan

Instructions

Preheat oven to 390F

Steam
the cauliflower florets in a steam basket for 10 minutes. Place ½ lemon in the steam basket or in the pot to avoid the bad
smell.

Drain and transfer the florets into very cold water. Drain and
put aside.

Whisk
milk, olive oil and egg. Add in flour, salt and black pepper and whisk
until smooth. Fold in ¾ of parmesan. Toss in the steamed cauliflower
florets and coat them well with this sauce.

Transfer it into a casserole
dish and bake for 40 minutes.

Remove the casserole from the oven, throw
the remaining Parmesan over it and bake for another 5 minutes or until
the cheese melts and gets golden.

Thursday, March 24, 2016

A couple of years ago, our college friend Klaudia came over to bake a traditional Czechoslovakian Rye bread bake. She knew my love of cooking and hands on learning and I had asked her for this for my blog the summer before. Sadly, I never got this post done and only discovered the pictures the other day

She even brought a cookbook from Wisconsin! Who knew there were a lot of Czech's in Wisconsin?
I hope recipe shows up well enough to read

Way back in December, I defrosted the 35 pounds of garden tomatoes we froze and made sauce. Spending a weekend making sauce requires asking friends over to keep you company and help make fresh pasta. It seems that I forgot to make a blog post in December and fear that I lost the majority of the photos, but here are a few to commemorate the event.

Even Ms. Tim was there and we don't see enough of them!

Here is Ms. B the amazing midwife showing her resilient patience as the pasta is just not cooperating!

Ms. A is there lending a helping hand.

Slowly, things came together and the pasta cooperated enough to thin and be cut.

It was a wonderful night. Thanks to everyone for their help! We still have sauce left on the shelf!

I don't have a recipe for Chana Masala on my blog because it is in my cookbook. My favorite is Madhur Jaffrey's original. Here is Smitten Kitchen's take on her recipe. Chana is a staple in our house and the kids love it. I would recommend a recipe from Aarti Paarti that you can find here: Chickpea Curry for Lil' Bug

Chana Masala Nachos!

Yes this is a Chana Masala pizza but even better is that it has Indian chicken strips on it as well! Yes... click that link... you really want to make Indian Chicken Strips tonight, and tomorrow, and all of next week.

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

We were in Connecticut last weekend celebrating my brothers birthday. We stayed in Madison at my Dad's "Gal Pal" Susan's house. She cooked us this lovely chicken on Friday night. Shown by the state of the cards below, this is a well loved recipe. There is an error on the card - the author omitted the 1/2 cup of chutney that goes on it. I will write it into the recipe below, and add that as a garnish, Susan added water chestnuts and pecans for a little added crunch. Yummy dinner loved by the whole family.

Process
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees
2. Place chicken flat in oven dish.
3. Combine mayo and sour cream in a bowl.
4. Stir in the chutney and the curry.
5. Squeeze in the juice from the lemon.
6. Cover chicken with this mixture. If you are adding the water chestnuts or pecans add them here. Season with pepper.
7. Bake for 20 minutes and Voila! Check meat with a thermometer to be sure it is at 170 degrees.

These pictures don't do this recipe justice.
I hesitate to even put them on here, but darn, this is a really yummy meal.

The Merrymeeting Kitchen

This picture is from the kitchen at the Merry Meeting Farm. A can of plum pudding exploded and they laughed and laughed and laughed! The photo was made into a serving tray, from which I made a digital copy. Pictured is my mother HiHo, my grandmother Mima, my great-grandmother BaBa, and some cousins.

About Me

I am a mom of three children; trying to evolve, living locally and sustainably, and putting my MS to use, one ecological footprint at a time. I am a Native New Englander with a sense of wonder that began at a young age watching sunsets with my mother. I pass this on to my children and am preserving our family history in the process.

A Merry Meeting to Everyone!

My mother HiHo's love of cooking was passed on to me from generations before her. She asked us to remember her with flowers and music, but I also remember her with cooking. This blog is to share this love and at the same time preserve and publish the generations of recipes handed down to me from my family's kitchens all over New England. I encourage comments and stories. Just click on the recipe title, and the link will take you to the comment options. If you knew my mother or anyone like her, there are volumes of stories to share and I invite them to be woven into this blog. So anytime a recipe moves you to share a story, we'd love to hear it! Thanks for reading, now go cook!